Shattered Pieces of Feathers
by Princess Pepper Polly Hato
Summary: Rainbow Dash isn't a patient Pegasus in Equestria. When Twilight brings a new friend from the Human World to Equestria, the mane six keeps asking friendly questions to the caped pony, but she refuses to reveal herself, even to Twilight for a secret reason. Rainbow challenges her to a race, it's up to Fluttershy to make sure that the friendships are fixed.


Shattered Pieces of Feathers by Ina

* * *

Shattered Pieces of Feathers

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were waiting for Twilight to come back from the Human World. She had been gone for hours and they were dying to know what happened. A few minutes later, the portal started to blur and in seconds, Twilight was there smiling, "I'm back!"

Strangely, besides Twilight was a pony with an indigo cape that cover its whole body. The girls all made a confused look. Rainbow Dash asked, "Um... Twilight, who is...um...is..." she just gave up and pointed her hoof at the pony with a cape.

The pony with the cape giggled, "No need to call me an "it"." Her feminine voice spoke. "I'm Polly. I'm just here to look over the Equestria changes."

Rarity smiled and welcomed Polly, "Well, then Polly, welcome to Ponyville in Equestria! Let me take that cape -"

Polly denied her offer, "No thank you."

Rarity screamed in her head, _but why?! I'm trying to be generous to her._ Twilight let out a forced chuckle and whispered to Polly, "Why not take it off? It's pretty steaming hot in here."

Polly answered in her normal voice, "It's fine, really. I don't take this off usually, and I'm not planning to take it off."

Rainbow blurted out a question, "Do you have wings? Or do you have a horn? Or are you an Earth pony?"

Twilight sighed and shook her head, she knew that Rainbow was going to ask that question.

Polly stood there quiet, and denied to answer, "I rather not tell that."

Fluttershy shut her eyes tightly knowing the answer, _if she refuses to tell many of the basic questions, she's not your friend!_ That was in fact a true statement, but Fluttershy did not want to say anything that would upset anypony, even strangers.

Polly felt awkward not doing anything else, so she suggested to take a walk around the castle. The girls gave an agreement of nods.

Minutes went by very quickly and once they walked over to a hall where Flash Sentry's post was assigned, he gave an odd look to Polly. Polly gave out a silent talk with Flash and they both nodded. Twilight and her friends noticed this action and queried, "What was that?"

Polly answered bluntly as possible, "Mission accomplished. Friendship Castle; check. Crystal Empire; check. Canterlot; check."

Rainbow Dash grew suspicions on Polly. Twilight lead Polly to her assigned guest room since it was getting dark.

* * *

That night, Rainbow slipped out of her room in the castle and went to spy on Polly. Polly was in the halls having a small conversation with Flash. Rainbow puffed, _oh great. She's having a talk with him again._ This time, she listened very carefully.

"Princess of Katalot wishes to attack this palace," Polly reasoned Flash.

"How do you even know that kind of information, Princess Polly?" Flash asked.

Rainbow's eyes rounded in shock. _Polly is an Alicorn!?_ Rainbow bumped onto a wall and the two ponies went silent. Flash looked around the area with his flashlight. He went a full circle, and there, he saw Rainbow Dash. She forced a giggle and dashed back to her room.

* * *

The next morning, the mane six and Polly had breakfast in the Sugar Cube Corner. All of the ponies were talking and giggling except for Rainbow. She was holding in a fact that she learned that night: _"Polly is a princess? But how?"_ Rainbow Dash asked herself. Then, a strange feminine voice answered, _"Polly was granted as a princess by the king. She does not know herself that she possess more power than the Equestrian Princesses."_

Polly whispered, "Rainbow Dash, you really..." The mane six all turned silent as Polly continued to whisper, "...you really...asked my step-sister for truth... didn't you?"

Twilight turned to her friend, then to Polly.

Rainbow guiltily nodded, "I...did..." Then she noticed, "But how do you know that?!"

Polly turned her head away from everyone, "That is just...a secret that I do not wish to talk about."

She could not control her rage inside, "Why do you have to keep your identity hidden? Why do you have to lie? Why do you have to hide from us? We're trying to be your _friends_!"

Polly muttered coldly, "Then, don't. I don't need friends to win a war."

Everypony were in surprise of her words. Twilight whispered into Polly's ear trying to calm her down, "Maybe you should take some deep breaths."

Rainbow Dash shrunk down and in a second, she dashed out to the open skies to think over the scene. The warm happiness was cooler than usual, a swirl of uncomfortable feeling spread while they had a friendly chat. Polly was not even taking a bite at her food while everypony else enjoyed their food. She could only think of one thing, the one word: war.

Back in the cafe, the girls didn't know what to do but Polly just sat on the chair motionless. Her eyes blinked a few times before she rose from her seat and left the cafe without a word. Fluttershy, the pony who possess the element of kindness, followed her outside.

While Polly took a walk around the Ponyville streets, she whispered in a very sad tone, "Nymphia, where are you? The war isn't over, but I don't wish to be forced to not meet each other. When will we be able to meet again? It's been years!"

Fluttershy sniffed quietly at the sad comment. Polly was missing her own friend! As she followed Polly, she noticed she was heading in the direction of Cloudsdale.

Once Polly was below the Cloudsdale entrance, she called out, "Rainbow Dash!"

Fluttershy's ears went up and stared at Polly in surprise. She spread her wings out and talked in her normal voice, which is a whisper to everypony else, "Um...Polly, I can get her down if you want me to."

Polly looked at the nervous Fluttershy and nodded, "Thank you."

Fluttershy flapped her wings and soared into Cloudsdale to catch her friend. Fluttershy spoke in her quiet voice, "Um... Rainbow Dash? Polly wants to see you, right now."

Rainbow Dash moaned on the cloud. She still had many thoughts that she couldn't think through. "What, Fluttershy?" she answered.

Fluttershy repeated, "Polly wants to see, right now."

Rainbow looked down at Polly and told Fluttershy, "She will need to just get herself up here, then."

Polly heard Rainbow's comment. She decided she had no choice. She used her levitation to get herself up on the cloud right next to Rainbow Dash. "I'm here."

Rainbow blinked confused, "How did you get here?"

Polly muttered, "Levitation."

"So you're a unicorn?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain. Come with me." Polly levitated herself down to the ground and started walking towards the mountains. Rainbow glided towards Polly and followed her by flying.

After a long walk for Polly and Fluttershy and flight for Rainbow, they entered a cave. There was a dead end, but Polly kept going and once she reached it, she put her hoof against the wall. Rainbow and Fluttershy stared at the moment in awe as Polly's body was surrounded by an aurora and the wall started to move. Polly's aurora slowly faded and the three ponies kept going forward through the cave.

When they were inside a room full of complex science stuff, Polly welcomed them to her small table with four chairs. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat down and Polly set the table. She began to explain, "The reason I do not show an of my identity is because there are hunters looking for me. The former Queen of Evil's spirit is roaming our world. The only objective that she speaks of is to destroy me."

Fluttershy quietly asked, "You... you mean... the Queen of Evil's spirit is trying to kill you?!"

"Yes, that is indeed true."

Rainbow shouted angrily, "But why?"

"That is, that I'm not very sure of."

Fluttershy remembered Polly's whispers while getting to Rainbow's cloud, so she asked, "Who is Nymphia?"

Polly sighed and answered sadly, "She was my childhood friend, but we've been forced to join other sides by the ruler of the worlds. She is the Princess of Katalot, but she does not know herself, that she actually is."

Rainbow smiled, "So, you had a friend before."

"Yes, I used to."

Rainbow's smile dropped and questioned, "Used to?"

Polly nodded, "We used to be great friends, but our bond has been broken. The former Queen of Evil is Nymphia's mother, and she had put a curse of Nymphia. Nymphia has been split up into four destinies by time travelling. Her youngest self is herself, but the future self is not really her."

On the edge of the table, Fluttershy was sobbing. She felt very bad for Polly. Losing a friend just because of her friend's mother.

Polly confronted the sobbing yellow Pegasus, "No need to cry about it."

Fluttershy's tears didn't stop falling and defended, "You should be crying! You've lost your..."

Polly sighed, "Truthfully, I cannot cry, and I refused to."

Rainbow shook her head, "Sometimes, even I have to let a tear down. Why not you?"

"It's just that I can't. I don't want to scare you with telling you the deeper secret."

Rainbow laughed at Polly's warning, "Are you that scared to tell us? I mean I wouldn't be scared of a story of a Headless Horse!"

"This one is even worse than that story. That's why."

Rainbow smiled, "I challenge you to wing race! If I win, you tell the story of yours, and if you win, you get to keep it a secret." Then, Rainbow flew out of the cave and dashed all the way to Ponyville.

Polly stood there silent.

Fluttershy squeaked, "Are... you... okay?"

Polly blinked, "No, frankly, I am not fine at all."

"Why not?"

Polly's face became emotionless, "Even if I have wings, I cannot fly in my condition right now."

Fluttershy politely asked, "May I see them?"

Polly shook her head, "No, you may not. I do not want to frighten you."

"I may be frightened by them, but at least I can probably reason with Rainbow Dash if you tell me?"

Polly shook her head again, "No! I cannot let anyone see them! It hurts even more!"

Fluttershy was shocked, _hurts?! So she's injured?!_

Polly suggested, "Let's just go over to her." She did not want to keep talking about her wings because it reminded of a very tragic time.

Fluttershy agreed. Then the two ponies walked all the way back to Ponyville to find the cyan Pegasus with rainbow colored mane and tail. It took the two ponies half an hour to get back. When they approached Rainbow Dash, she did a cartwheel on the air. She was ready to win a race.

On the side of the path was Princess Twilight with her other friends (excluding Rainbow and Fluttershy). Fluttershy trotted silently towards Twilight and Rainbow Dash was waiting at the starting line.

Polly took off her hood and revealed her cracked tip unicorn horn and her mane that is longer than Twilight's. The two colors were in patterns of bright mint green and bright aqua. Her eyes were different colors. Her left eye was yellow while her other eye was purple. Everypony stared at her in awe. Then, Polly spoke in a very angry tone, "What?"

All the guests who came to watch Rainbow Dash win froze.

"Rainbow, why do you want to race me?"

Rainbow laughed, "Why? Duh! It's because I am the best."

"Seriously, I don't have that kind of time. If you want to play around like that, then help me."

Fluttershy nodded, "She won't race you, even if she wanted to. Because she doesn't want to be called a cheater," and her friends looked at her in confusion.

Now it was the challenger to get mad, "What do you mean?"

Fluttershy gently smiled to Polly trying to give her courage.

Polly chocked out her words, "Well... I've... never... wanted... to... admit... but..." Then she shook her head and whispered, "Nymphia, I want to be free. I want to be able to let my own tears flow down. I don't want you to do them for me."

The crowd was still speechless, and so was the rainbow maned Pegasus. A few minutes passed and a filly Alicorn (in the official story, it's Unisus/Pegacorn) appeared out of nowhere. She gently said some comforting words, "Polly, it's fine. I'll become what you feel and I'll do them." Then, she confessed, "I've been doing everything to show others your feelings, but I'm sorry that I wasn't good enough."

Polly spoke with her serious eyes, "I want my body back."

Everypony except Polly and Nymphia yelled in shock, "WHAT?!"

"I can't race when I'm in my spirit form," Polly explained, "because it wouldn't be fair. I would teleport when I am satisfied.

Nymphia nodded, "So you are still a spirit? You haven't returned to your own body yet?"

Polly shook her head, "I did visit myself, but I could not do it. It depresses me to see my life without memories."

Nymphia tried to reason, "That isn't a very good explanation! Looking at your lifeless body is much more worse and depressing! In all the other places except for in Bunny Country (Bunny Country is a world full of bunnies, not in Equestria!), everyone can't see you!"

Twilight laid down a question, interrupting the two, "Well, we can see her."

Polly gently answered, "Because I'm in my digital body. I programmed myself to become a hologram so that you all can see me."

Nymphia frowned, "Polly sometimes uses magic against me and I have to be in her body while she is in her spirit form which no one can see unless in Bunny Country." Then she shed a tear, "Why do you do that for me?"

The A.I. lowered her tone, "Because I wanted you to not have to go through your fated day without me."

Nymphia sighed, "A good rival always makes sure to not to let her rival down," and then, she winked and smiled. Polly smiled too.

Then, Fluttershy's cutie mark glowed meaning the friendship problem was finally solved. Twilight exclaimed in realization, "Oh! That's what the Cutie Map was trying to tell me!" The rest of her friends gave a puzzled look.

* * *

After few minutes of silence, Polly started to reveal her rest of the body. Everypony were awfully stunned by her amount of scars. Her right wing had to bullet holes, but it was a much larger wing than her left wing. Her stomach was bandaged on tightly and Rainbow can sense the pain. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were not only staring at her damages, but her flank. This princess didn't have a cutie mark (Talent Mark) yet. Twilight noticed her front hooves had accessories that does not even exist in Equestria.

Polly walked all the way to Rainbow, and leaned to her ear to whisper, "And this is why I cannot have a race with you."

The challenger nodded, "I'm so sorry."

Then, Polly giggled, "Don't be."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because when I return to my own real body, and get out of the hospital, I'll take a visit to have our race by wing!" Polly exclaimed, but still very quietly so nopony else can hear their conversation.

"Promise?"

"God promise."

"What's that? Can't you just Pinkie Promise?"

"Does it make a difference? It's the same as Pinkie Promise, except in Bunny Country's version. Since I'm told that I'm from Bunny Country."

"Friends?"

"Sure, why not?"

The two ponies burst in laughter while rest of the crowd wonder what had happened while they were observing the Alicorn (Pegacorn).


End file.
